Major-a Nintendo Direct: Amiibo and More

The latest Nintendo Direct marked the return of President and CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata. After many months of concern over his health fans see Iwata come back with a slew of new announcements for both Wii U and 3DS.

Long-awaited 3D remake of the N64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is making its way to a 3DS console near you Spring 2015. Not many details were given, but Iwata’s comments on how they plan to make the weirdest game in the Zelda series more accessible to a wider audience, is sure to keep some interest on that latest entry of the Zelda series on the Nintendo 3DS.

Next up, Bill Trinen of Nintendo of America talks a bit about Amiibo, in particular, how Amiibo interacts with MarioKart 8. Since the announcement of Amiibo it has been confirmed that the new Amiibo figurines will work with upcoming titles. However, it will be interesting to see exactly how Nintendo’s new toy line strategy will implement these figures in not only upcoming titles, but existing popular titles. That is where MarioKart 8 comes in. Along with the previously announced tracks, carts, and drivers, MarioKart 8 will fully support Amiibo.

Players will now be able to use their soon-to-be purchased Amiibo figures by scanning them in the game to unlock a range of new outfits for your Mii character in the game. For example, scanning an Amiibo figure like Mario will unlock a Mario-themed racing suit for your Mii character to use in any race. So far Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Link, Kirby, Samus Aran, and Fox McCloud were all revealed as compatible Amiibo for MarioKart 8. These characters are actually part of the first wave of Amiibo releasing on November 21st. As part of the second wave of Amiibo figures, Captain Falcon and Luigi will also be joining the race when those figures are released in December. MarioKart 8 DLC and Amiibo integration is expected to go live on November 13th.